If your dog is doing something bad, is it okay to hit (I'm not saying I do) him/her?

Question

If your dog is doing something bad, is it okay to hit (I'm not saying I do) him/her? Like in the face, or on the behind? Or, even pretend like you're going to hit him/her? Because it seems like just saying "No!" isn't enough. If not, how do you punish your dog for doing something bad, in a way that they will understand that what they did was wrong?

OMG people!!! Stop saying that I'm mad or I'm mean! I did NOT say that I hit dogs! I asked the question because I was wondering if it was okay for PEOPLE to hit DOGS. NOT if it was okay for ME to hit dogs!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Such force is only necessary in life threatening, dangerous, desperate situations... For example if your dog was trying to kill a cat, you might need to smack him in the snout to get your point across in order to save the cats life. In most cases you should not need or want to use violence for your dogs benefit and your safety. Hitting a dog teaches him/her that it is acceptable to deal out violence when you are frustrated with another individual.. and the dog may end up using violence on you someday. Same with humans.. if kids are brought up getting hit, they in turn hit others. If your dog is doing something bad and you want to punish him, all you have to do is assign a negative result to that behaviour and a positive result for the preffered behaviour. For example.. You catch your dog chewing your shoe, instead of hitting him and yelling at him, you say in a firm commanding voice..NO! and squirt the dog in the face with a water bottle. Then you take away the shoe, replace it with an appropriate chew toy belonging to the dog and praise him/her for chewing on that instead of the shoe.

A smack on the butt once in a while to reinforce a command is ok, but its not really "hitting".. you know how dogs like getting patted rough on the side and thigh.. well basically thats what you do except with a different meaning. It doesnt hurt them physically, it just serves to make them think twice and stop ignoring or hesitating to follow a command.

Answer 2

I learned something interesting, at a seminar for motivational training of the performance dog, I went to a month ago. The speaker was talking about agility dogs and how sometimes, they get so excited in the down at the start, then they do a "false start" which can be a mark against you and cause your run to turn out bad. Now she didn't suggest using the crate for punishment really, but it was kind of like this... in a very happy to see the dog tone... "oh, you're not ready to run? Okay, I guess you want to go back to your crate for a while then." All the while, that happy tone is there, not a single tone of anger... even tho you may be upset. Then she suggested taking the dog to the crate for all of 5 minutes. Then allow the dog out to "try again".

Kind of "Oh, you don't want to be good, okay, I guess you want to go hang out in your crate for a few minutes". Sort of like a time out, but in no way is your voice giving the impression the dog is in trouble for anything. Might be something I'll need to utilize in training my puppy for agility this spring.

I personally don't hit my dogs. I address them with a "no" immediately and move them on to something acceptable (like if chewing something not allowed, get them the proper chew toy). I have also always crated/contained my dogs, when under 3 yrs old and still chewing a lot, so that they didn't have the opportunity to get into trouble. For house training, if I catch an accident while it's happening, I let out a loud sound to disrupt the behavior, then take puppy straight outside to finish the business.

Answer 3

I have to say, My husband has had his dog for over three years, and when I moved in with him the dog was OUT OF CONTROl!! She didn't listen, EVER. she just went around jumping on people and scratching them, trying to push them down. She pushed me to the ground on many occasions!
When she started jumping on me or tearing up her bed, I would shout "No!BAD!", and give her a light smack on the butt. Nothing that hurts though. And never anywhere other than the butt.
She doesn't do any of that stuff anymore! Except tearing up her bed, when she doesn't get enough attention!!
I know some people wrote that you can just look at your dog and she'll know what she did is wrong and won't do it again. In my experience, this has never worked. I have tried. I have shouted, I have given stern looks and what not. And they continue to go on doing it...They seem to forget the stern warning you had given them only an hour before....
Haha!! I've tried spraying the dog with water before but she LOVES it!! She doesn't think she's in trouble when I do that!! My cat knows she's in trouble when I do that though....That's something different

Answer 4

No don't hit. What helped my dog was me going to get a newspaper. I'd roll it up, and smack my hand lightly with it, and he'd know better. I'd even say I was going to get the newspaper, and that made him stop and be good. But I never hit- I don't think it's right. Not saying you do.... When my parents were remodeling our house (we stayed at our rented house we'd been at for a few yrs)... we went to the house one day to do more remodeling, and a dog was on our porch. My parents let me keep the dog overnight, but said in the morning we have to give it to the shelter... anyways, this poor dog, when I would go to pet it, the dog would move away- like it had been abused before. It was so sad, I was so sad we had to let this poor dog go, I gave it so much love the night we kept him. I just think hitting isn't good for pets or people... it doesn't really teach them anything but to be really afraid of you, and it can hurt them emotionally and physically.

Answer 5

Are u MAD it is absolutly NEVER ok to hit a dog just use a stern voice come down to the dogs level and with a stern voice say NO thats it u NEVER hit a dog or any animal in any way. how would u like to be hit if u did something rong peopel are not allowed to hit other people why should it be different for animals!!!

Answer 6

Tone of voice, serious not yelling, pointing, hand clapping, direct eye contact... those are all things the dog understands better. This being said, my dogs get a little smack on the butt from time to time.

If your dog is not listening, assert your dominance. Take his face and stare him down until he acknowledges you are the boss. When you're the boss, a "HEY" is good enough.

My dogs KNOW I'm the boss, they KNOW they are in trouble just from the way I say their names, and don't think they don't cower when I'm pissed. Good thing too, this is the best indicator for me to know to back off and not deal with the problem at that second. Doesn't happen to often.

Answer 7

I was always told to use a tone of voice and if you say no then don't pet him/her for a while or give him a treat. And after you say no walk away with your head up and don't look back at him/her becuase the dog can like feel your positive energy. Also when you dog continues to do something and using a tone of voice doesn't work take your hand like a "claw" and quickly and with a lil bit of force take your hand and like "claw" your dogs neck like on the side and it will make it seem like a dog is biting your dog and it should submit. I used that on my dog once becuase he kept getting in the garbage and he hasn't done it since.

Answer 8

I'm sure some people will disagree but in some instances it's okay to give your dog a firm spank on the rump(not the spine) when they are doing wrong. This shouldn't be so hard as to hurt the animal and should not be repeated spankings.

Of course a well-trained dog will lower its ears and know it's done bad as soon as you raise your voice and shall require no spanking.

Answer 9

"Spanking" your dog is perfectly fine, but don't use your hands. Use a rolled up newspaper or something. That way they won't "fear" you (your hands), and they will know that there are negative consequences to "bad" things. Also remember to scold them when they do bad, and praise them when they do good. They are just like children in that they need to be taught right from wrong, and you need to use the appropriate measures to do your job successfully.

Answer 10

No, hitting a dog is like hitting a baby. It gratifies the anger , but does not change the behavior.
Find a better way to discipline.
Put them in a place where they won't get into trouble.